Legolas and the Visitor
by Kimberleg
Summary: Legolas is on watch whilst the Fellowship sleep when a strange visitor appears in Middle Earth ...


**Legolas and the Visitor**

Legolas lay on the soft earth, arms crossed on his chest, eyes open and staring into the sky. He had lain like that for quite some hours, until he suddenly woke up to behold the stars above his head. He had not been awake, but asleep, wondering the strange paths of elvish dreams and relaxing his mind and body whilst seeming awake. He sat up slightly and placed his slender hand and fingers on his forehead, his eyes now shut tight and concentrated. A soaring pain ripped through his skull, feeling as though it was penetrating his mind as well as just his head.

He had, in fact, got no rest – even though the Fellowship had stopped travelling and had stopped for the night - and his elvish dreams did not comfort him like they usually did. His dreams had been disturbed of late by some terror unknown to Legolas; some darkness was clouding his mind, and he did not understand it. Not only were his dreams disturbed, but Legolas himself too was feeling somewhat disturbed. He had a strong feeling inside of him that was growing with each day that passed. He felt like some presence was approaching and this worried him.

Times were difficult enough as they were without another worry on his mind: the Fellowship left the safety and comfort of Rivendell a week or so ago and had been travelling across mountains and open plains since. Throughout all of their journeying, Legolas had kept a secure eye on the Hobbits, most especially Frodo. It was Frodo who he had sworn to protect, and it was on Frodo whom the entire Fellowship was based on, it was Frodo they were fighting for. They had stopped not far from the mountain Caradhras and could easily be seen by Legolas. But, considering the fact that Legolas was an Elf with excellent sight, it may be that it was only Legolas who could see the snowy mountain through the mist that covered the skies ahead.

However, where they had stopped now, the sky was dark and the stars shone brightly and beautifully as they hung from the abyss above the sleeping Fellowship below. Legolas tried not to dwell on such morbid thoughts. He stood up as gracefully as ever and scanned the area around him. Everyone was asleep, and they all looked peaceful and unaware of the terror around them, threatening them ever more each day. He counted the bodies lying on the floor: 1, 2, 3, 4, the Hobbits … Gandalf, Gimli, that's 6 … Boromir … 7 … only 7? There should be 8. Legolas was about to hurriedly count the bodies again when he saw the eighth.

Aragorn was standing, tall and bold, staring into the forest they were bordering. Legolas knew that Aragorn needed his sleep, whereas he himself could go without, and he was anxious that Aragorn was not getting enough. Aragorn, in his eyes, was the fighting stronghold of the Fellowship. The Fellowship stood little chance without Aragorn and he knew this. Legolas also knew what lay on store for Aragorn in his future, and he knew what suffering he was going through and would soon have to go through, and was therefore always willing to help his friend, no matter what the cost would be.

Legolas silently walked over to Aragorn and placed his hand firmly on his shoulder. Aragorn was not startled by his friend's presence, perhaps slightly surprised – as Elves had the ability to stand right beside you and you not notice – but more glad of the company than anything. Legolas was usually on watch; either that or it was Gandalf or Aragorn. Tonight it was Aragorn, but Legolas could not sleep, so he offered to take Aragorn's place.

To Legolas' somewhat surprise, Aragorn said no and said Legolas should return to his slumber. 'I have little need of rest', thought Legolas, 'and yet it is him saying that I should sleep?! It is he that has need of sleep, not I!'

"You should sleep, Aragorn" said Legolas quietly yet firmly to his friend, putting his thoughts into words. "You have more need to rest than I do. Rest".

Aragorn looked at his friends, the Elf's blue eyes penetrating his soul. He eventually nodded and wandered off to find somewhere comfortable to sleep, but not before placing his hand on the Elf's shoulder and thanking his friend in his own language. Legolas watched Aragorn slowly saunter off. Just by watching Aragorn walking, he could see how physically exhausted Aragorn was. He turned his eyes back to the forest, scanning between the shadows of the trees to see if there was anyone there who might threaten them. An attack could come at any time, from anywhere, by anyone. However, Legolas had spent his whole life on watch, waiting patiently for an attack to commence, and with his bow and knives at hand, he was ready for whatever the dark forces of the land may throw at him.

Legolas gazed into the forest, looking out for mysterious shadows and any kind of movement. No matter what he concentrated his mind on, he could not rid himself of this strange thought, this weird and disturbing sensation that was growing, almost pulling him towards something … His headache grew worse and he began to lack in concentration. He now wondered if he had been wise to relieve Aragorn from this post. Maybe it would have been best if he had simply lain there and tried to get back to sleep? But he convinced himself that he had done the right thing by letting Aragorn regain some of his lost energy, and turned his thoughts back to the forest.

Once again he gazed into the forest. It soon became apparent to him that he found it difficult to draw his eyes away from it. The shadows were drawing his gaze, almost silently calling him hither … Legolas felt a pierce in his mind as he thought this, like whatever was in the shadows of the forest was agreeing with him and calling him evermore towards it … Legolas looked at the Fellowship, sleeping and defenceless without him, then back at the forest, dark, foreboding and yet full of temptation. Legolas looked between the Fellowship and the forest, to the sleeping Fellowship and back to the shadows in the forest again. He then made what he thought may be a very rash decision: he took up his bow, fit an arrow to the string and walked off towards the forest.

Legolas entered the shadows and walked for quite some time through the forest. As he entered, he considered himself a fool. He was almost certain he was walking straight into a trap, but he could not help himself, the temptation to discover what was lurking in the shadows was too compelling to resist.

Legolas felt quite at home with the trees. Not only had he lived amongst the trees all his life, but the Elves have a bond with nature far stronger than the bond between Nature and Humans, so a forest is the perfect environment for an Elf. Also, the Elves have the ability to hear the speech and thoughts of things that Humans believe cannot talk, or are even alive: for example, Elves can hear the speech of the trees and of rocks. Legolas listened carefully to the thoughts of trees, trying to understand any thought or evil they may have or know of. But he heard very little, and what we could hear did not ease his curiousity. The shadows were so strong that Mortal eyes could not have pierced it: it would have been, how they say, 'pitch black'.

Legolas lost count of exactly how long he wandered through the trees, not sure what he was following or what he was looking for, but he was certain there was something here, something that something – or someone – wanted him to see and experience. He walked carefully and cautiously through the trees, over roots and along dirty pathways that looked as if men had never walked down there before. After a while, he considered turning back to return to the defenceless Fellowship, until just then, he saw a clearing.

Between two trees, there was a weak mess of ivy and vines and other growth. Legolas gently pulled these and they quickly and effortlessly fell to the floor. What Legolas saw captured his heart. It wasn't a venue of stunning beauty by all means, but it was still beautiful in the eyes of Legolas. The area had a wonderful ambience of calm, and a feeling that you were not in the world you once knew, but a far away, beautiful world, not war-torn and scarred like this one.

There was a river, long with no clear end, that ran calmly and smoothly with grassy banks at either side. The area that Legolas surveyed was a natural green-blue colour, and the forest continued on the other side of the bank. There was very little starlight here, but if you lay down on the bank and looked up, the star-littered sky was clearly visible overhead. It was a wonderful sight to behold.

Legolas walked forward, arrow still fitted to the string, but upon seeing this sight, lowered his bow a little, as he felt no evil could come here, it was such a sacred place. When his eyes fell upon the river, he was touched by its beauty and calmness. He walked up to the river bank and knelt down, looking into his reflection. He never admitted to himself how handsome and beautiful he was, as all Elves were stunningly fair of face, no matter how young or old they were. However, he still looked into his face and into the eyes that stared back at him. He saw the warrior who had travelled so far from home, like the rest of Fellowship; the fighter and defender of the people and the lands he loved so dearly. He saw the star-covered ceiling above him and for the first time in years, he felt somewhat at peace.

He placed his arrow back in its quiver and his bow on the floor. His hands entered the cold, fresh water and he collected some water in his palms. He gently placed his face into his hands and washed his face. His face didn't need washing, but Legolas felt a lot calmer and more refreshed after performing this act. He breathed in a huge lungful of air and such relief filled his mind: the air was so clean, so fresh, so … perfect. It was like a long, refreshing drink after a day of running – just what he needed to calm his nerves. He relaxed by the riverside without a care in the world. He felt so at peace here; he believed this was truly his sacred place.

He then noticed that suddenly – too suddenly for his liking – the wind picked up. It began as a light breeze, then grew stronger and turned dramatically into a gale-like wind from a storm. Legolas immediately stood up and looked around him. The branches in the trees were being tossed all over the place as the wind howled like never before; it shook every living thing in its path in its sudden furious rage. The wind grew louder, and Legolas considered the possibility that, as he had suspected before, he had walked into a trap and some sorcery was at work here. He swiftly picked up his bow, fit his arrow to the string again and waited, looking around constantly so he was aware of everything around him.

Suddenly, a type of screeching reached his ears. It was a sound he had never heard before, and his ears listened intently: it began almost silently, then slowly but surely grew until it was deafening. The screeching grew in volume and ferocity as the wind continued to blow and howl aggressively.

Soon, Legolas stared into the trees and on the opposite of the bank, something began to appear. Legolas stared in disbelief as this 'thing' slowly materialised in front of him. It was large, very large, about half the size of the huge trees that grew on the opposite of the bank. It was bathed in a bright light, most of the light coming from the top of the 'thing'. It lasted for quite some time, but eventually, the light faded, the screeching died down and everything came to a fault. A terrible silence followed.

Legolas observed the 'thing' that had just appeared in front of him. He was now certain that what had just happened was due to dark magic. Some device of Sauron's, possibly? But how could it be? This object was nothing like anything ever seen or recorded in Middle Earth. As Legolas's keen eyes surveyed what was before him, he could see that it was a huge shape made of wood. There were other materials on it, materials Legolas had never seen before and therefore could not describe, mainly where the light had come from, that looked hard and strange. It was of a deep, dark colour and the side facing him seemed to have a large door taking up most of the space of that side of the 'thing'. The question in Legolas' mind, however, could not be answered and grew with every second that passed: what was this thing?

Suddenly, one of the doors on the 'thing' swung open. Legolas swiftly lifted his bow and pulled back the string, aiming into the 'thing', expecting an attack to ensue. However, an attack did not ensue; instead, a human being simply strolled out. Legolas presumed it was a human being: his face wasn't hideously disfigured like an Orc's, he was not tall and slender with pointed ears, so he was certainly not an elf, he was not small like a Hobbit or a Dwarf – quite the contrary, he was rather tall, almost the height of Legolas – so Legolas quite reasonably assumed he was a mortal human being.

The human being took one step out of his 'thing' and immediately exclaimed and nearly fell backwards, as he had not noticed the river directly in-front of him. Legolas therefore came to the conclusion that this human being was not the most intelligent of his species. The human staggered backwards leaning onto his 'thing', then suddenly looked up and saw Legolas aiming his bow at him.

"Ah…" said the human.

Legolas stared at him with no look of friendship on his face, just pure concentration and hostility to this new, strange creature.

"Who are you?" questioned Legolas strongly.

The human casually looked around, briefly surveying the area around him.

"Umm … where are we?" he asked, confused, once again looking up at Legolas.

Legolas did not reply, but simply held his arrow back tightly in a threatening manner.

"Oh you can put that down, I'm not gonna hurt you" said the human, as if Legolas was no threat to him whatsoever.

"Who are you? How did you get here …" Legolas trailed off slightly as he finished his sentence. The human squinted at him, then followed the Elf's line of sight, which was staring into his 'thing'.

Legolas could see perfectly well inside the human's 'thing'. It was like something he had never seen before – he couldn't even describe it. It was a colour similar to gold, but there were machines of other colours and flashing lights that Legolas could not help but stare at. The Human stared at Legolas with wild, open eyes and followed his line of sight into his machine. He turned around melodramatically and understood why the Elf was staring in awe and bemusement.

"Ahh …" he said, understanding.

"What is that thing?" Legolas asked, a hint of fear as well as confusion clear in his voice.

"That's my ship" the mortal replied.

Legolas gave him a look which said 'You are so stupid'.

"It is clearly not a very well built ship. Where are your sails?"

"It doesn't need sails" the Mortal replied.

"And it is an excellent ship, I'll have you know!" the Mortal exclaimed suddenly with a hurt look on his face, having only just realised the insult thrown at his machine.

"The best in the universe! But enough about that" he quickly said, changing the subject, "where exactly are we?"

Legolas looked at him – who was this strange person? How can you have landed somewhere and not know where you were?

"We are in Middle Earth, one of its many open plains" Legolas replied matter of factly. Once again, he pulled back his bow string threateningly.

"But who are you?!" he asked aggressively.

The mortal seemed to be in thought.

"Middle Earth?" he said to himself. "Where have I heard that before … that name is familiar …"

He started pacing from side to side, Legolas marking him constantly, until he abruptly stopped and suddenly turned to look back at the Elf.

"You haven't got a friend called Harry Potter, do you? Short kid, shaggy black hair, glasses? Cut on his forehead?"

Legolas gave him a bewildered look.

"Who?" he asked, terribly confused.

The mortal shook his head and continued to pace a little more, muttering to himself until once again he suddenly stopped, his eyes and mouth wide open as he gasped suddenly.

"Middle Earth …" he said in a tone of sudden understanding, like a memory long since forgotten.

He continued to mutter to himself: "Middle-Earth … Tolkien … one of the greatest trilogies of all time, yes!!"

He suddenly shouted a joyful exclamation and laughed, looking wildly and delightedly in Legolas' direction, who now thought this creature was totally and utterly insane.

But Legolas was not in the mood for games. He stepped ever closer towards the man, threatening him viciously.

"Do not take me for a fool – I will shoot you where you stand".

"You would be foolish to shoot me" said the Man, giving Legolas a look he had received from no mortal before.

For a reason unknown to the Elf, he felt compelled to lower his bow slightly – probably because he thought that this being was too mad and too stupid to be of any threat to him.

"Now, let's see …" said the Mortal, hopping across the small stream so he stood only a foot or two away from Legolas. He began to scan Legolas, observing every element of his body carefully.

"Tall, blonde … love the ears …" he remarked, discomforting Legolas slightly (though he didn't show it).

A look of realisation came across the man's face:

"You must be Legolas" he finally stated.

Legolas looked at the man, confused and slightly disturbed.

"How do you know my name?" the Elf asked.

"Oh I've heard about you a couple of times" the man said, making up an excuse.

"You're a big hit amongst the ladies. All the girls love you".

After a second or two's silence, Legolas asked honestly: "Really?"

"Yeah!" replied the man. "They go crazy over you back where I come from".

"And where do you come from?" the Elf asked on a more serious note.

'Damn!' thought the man in his mind, 'I must stop using that line – it gets me into so much trouble!'

"Oh … some … little place, you wouldn't have heard of it …" the man replied hurriedly and began to walk off slightly.

"Hey!" the man said, turning around suddenly and pointing at Legolas.

"You know Gimli the Dwarf, don't you? And those little Hobbit fellas; aw ain't they the greatest?! Who ever knew being 3ft tall could get you so much in life. And what have you got against Helm's Deep? It's a great fortress! Gosh, you complain so much, but trust me, seriously, if you just give the Dwarf a chance, he's not that bad. He's Scottish, for heaven's sake – you can't go wrong! (He gave a small, personal beam at this point) Not that you'd know anything about Scottish, or where Scotland is as a matter of fact …"

As the man spouted out all of this rubbish, Legolas gave him a sudden look of concern: "You know about my friends also?!"

"Oh, I know every about you" the man replied seriously.

His eyes never left the Elf's and as he spoke, almost whispering so no-one overheard them, he walked very slowly up to the Elf so they were very close.

"I know everything about what you're doing, where you're going and why".

The Elf, secretly terrified of this stranger, continued to stare at this man – how could he know all this? Who was he?

"But don't worry …" the man said under his breath, "I'm on your side. I've ever seen enough evil bad guys and what they've been to people and their civilisations to be one of them".

As he spoke, he seemed to slip into his own thoughts, escaping from this reality for a moment. To Legolas and Legolas alone, he spoke of the memories in his heart.

"I'm very similar to you. I was a warrior once – fighting evil, saving innocent lives, defending those who can't defend themselves …"

He paused for a moment.

"… killing people …"

"I kill those who threaten those I love" Legolas replied strongly.

The man came swiftly out of his own mind and looked back up at Legolas, eyes wide open as he returned to reality.

"Oh well, yes, of course …" he said.

"Well, I must go. Great to meet you but you know, places to go, people to save …"

The man smiled at the Elf, turned on his heels and walked back towards his machine on the other side of the river.

"Wait!" the Elf cried, slightly alarmed that the man had decided to leave so suddenly when he had so many questions to ask.

The man turned around to face the curious Elf.

"If you know so much, stay and help us" the Elf suggested.

"Nah, can't do that" the man replied. "I'd only get in the way" he lied.

"But …" the Elf called him back yet again, desperate for him not to leave.

He looked as if he were about to say something until he seemed to stop himself. With a look of concern and grief on his face, he slowly asked his ultimate question:

"Do you know what is going to happen to us?" he asked honestly.

The man looked back at the Elf, seeing his desperation and feeling pity for his grief. This man was not stupid – insane, maybe, but not stupid. He did care and he did understand.

"Yes" the man replied truthfully. "And that is why I can't stay".

Legolas didn't understand and his face showed it. The man recognised this and sighed to himself.

"You have to figure it all out by yourselves. If I tell you everything that lies ahead, both good and bad, you'll avoid all the bad things and terrible consequences will occur; believe me, I know!" the man persuaded the Elf.

The Elf, as before, did not understand the stranger, but accepted the fact anyway.

"Can you give us some advice?" Legolas asked, like a small child in the presence of a giant, totally in awe of the wondrous person before him.

The man thought for a moment, then spoke:

"Never give up" he said plainly.

"Sometimes things will go well and you'll be happy and content with life, even though you know that danger lies ahead – that shows your intelligence. Bad times will come, people will suffer, people will die, but the fact is, forever will be and still remains today …"

He stopped briefly, looking into the Elf's soulful, sapphire eyes.

"… good always prevails, no matter how bad things get".

"Then we will conquer?" Legolas asked hopefully.

"We will win in the end?"

The man looked at the Elf and the expression on his face told Legolas that that was not the truth.

"Does anyone win in war?" the man asked.

Legolas pondered this question and understood the man perfectly, knowing there was no real answer. In his heart he knew it was strange, but he realised that even though he had no idea who this man was, what race he was (for some unknown reason, he felt that he was not entirely human), where he came from and even though he had not even known the man for an hour, he trusted him completely.

The man smiled slightly and turned once again, opening the door to his machine and stepping inside. All went silent for a moment until Legolas called him yet again. The door to the large machine swung upon suddenly and an irritated male face stuck out the side.

"What is it now?!" the man asked.

"Blimey, I knew Elves were stubborn, but I didn't think it was this bad!! What do you want?!"

Legolas ignored this comment. In any other situation, he would have struck the man hard, but he deemed this man as his friend and therefore continued on regardless.

He asked his question truthfully:

"What is your name?"

The man's irritated face dissolved into a grinning face.

"I'm the Doctor" he stated.

As the man disappeared and the door shut again, Legolas watched in astonishment as the large blue box made loud, strange noises and vanished before his eyes. He was so stunned by this event that when he left the forest and returned to his waking friends, he never told them or indeed anyone what he seen or what had occurred that night. However, he kept the Doctor's words in his heart at all times and pondered over them constantly. When Sauron was finally overthrown and peace restored to Middle Earth, Legolas wished he could see the mysterious Doctor again to show him what had finally come to pass, but he never saw him again.

**The end.**


End file.
